The Blessing of Sharing
November 3, 2023
Hello friends & family!
INovember 3, 2023
The Blessing of Sharing
Hello friends & family,
In exactly one month, we’ll have been here in New England for 3 years. So much GOOD is happening here & we have much to celebrate & anticipate! The GOSPEL is alive here, working in, around, & through our family, because GOD has sent you to help & bless & work with us from your home.
GOSPEL work #1
Our 15+ year old “puppy,” Sarah, passed away this past Sunday, just minutes before church began. We found her in quiet distress in her normal sleeping spot about an hour before that & we knew the end was near.
I called on the church leaders here & shared what was happening & before I could say anything else they told me to go take care of Shannon & John & what’s coming next & that they & the Lord would take care of the service. So I did. It was a sweet, sad time for our family. Our church family sang a little more than usual, prayed a little longer than usual, & one of our Godly elders stood at the front & shared from the Bible what the Lord had been recently leading him to meditate on & what the Spirit had been teaching Him. Wow—GOSPEL fellowship!
GOSPEL work #2
The park we built together (God through the church here, you who gave & prayed, & our family) is paying off BIG. Two quick, recent examples:
1) Keegan is a local high school student who comes to shoot hoops several times a week, sometimes with friends & sometimes alone. I’ve had the chance to connect with him several times, including a well-received GOSPEL talk. I went to Wal-Mart a few days ago & heard, “Hey Dave!” I turned around & there’s Keegan, working at Wal-Mart, a solid 20+ minute drive from us. Big smiles & a good talk—GOSPEL planting!
2) With the park events we’ve had, we’ve met several of our neighbors we’d never otherwise have met including one of them I spoke to for several hours spread out over several park events. This week, he sent me this note: My kids are asking me questions about how we all got here & some other things about God that I don’t know how to answer. That makes you the guy that makes most sense for me to ask about this. Are there any kids’ classes about this stuff or something else like that? I got to respond with a big smile, “YES. There’s a children’s class every Sunday morning that’s small, but there with sweet people teaching, including my wife. Because it’s small, they would be able to ask all the questions they want & get direct answers.” He let me know that’s what he was looking for—GOSPEL watering!
GOSPEL work #3
A man in a neighboring town heard me sharing the GOSPEL with a men’s group & came to me & said: I’ve lived here all my life & there’s not many people who talk about the Bible like you do & I’d sure like to help you & your church. My family owns a land business & we’d like to donate to your church a 5-acre lot that we have that’s right across the street, if you can use it. Wow. YES! So, that JUST happened & none of us here have ANY idea what the Lord wants us to do. Frankly, I thought asking God for the park was BIG & now, well, wow—GOSPEL harvesting!
GOSPEL work #4
Some of you may remember the Lord has allowed me to make good connections with the school, police & fire departments, & town hall employees here in Middleton. By the way, that’s ALL that’s in town besides a lumberyard & hardware store owned by a family I’ve not had the opportunity to meet yet except in passing. We’ve partnered with the town folks to identify about 15 families that are living below the poverty line in our community & working with each other to provide food baskets & other such support & encouragement during the holidays & throughout the year.
One of those is an ”angel tree” type toy-drive that we have for those families whose kids would not otherwise receive many if any Christmas gifts. These are direct GOSPEL opportunities for our church family as we get to be involved in the delivery of these baskets, gifts, & other blessings, which affords us the blessing of sharing the GOSPEL, both verbally & in writing through tracts & flyers, not to mention inviting these folks, who are our neighbors, to church!
Finally, the several meetings I have each year with the town hall, police, fire, & school folks that are involved & helping is giving me the opportunity to build friendships & share the GOSPEL throughout the year. If you’d like to order a gift for one of those children, you can do so at the link below & it will be sent directly to one of our town officials here to be sorted & delivered. Last year one of the gift sorters remarked: Some of these packages are coming from Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, & other states! How? I just got to smile & shrug & thank the Lord for you who gave—GOSPEL spreading!
GOSPEL work #5
A big part of what we get to do as supported missionaries is reach out to & invest in YOU who read, pray, root, hope, & give so that we can live here & accomplish such things in the Acts 4:12 Name of Jesus Christ, Who alone can save anyone!! Our next in-person connection trip will be to Kalamazoo & has been scheduled for the end of April, 2024, & the details are coming together. Please look at what’s coming below & save the dates on your new 2024 calendar:
On Sunday morning, April 21, 2024, we’ll be worshipping God with the VXV Church family (vxvchurch.com) in Three Rivers. We’d love for you to join us. If you plan to come & sit with us, but don’t regularly attend there, please let us know so we can connect with you in the most meaningful way possible.
On Friday evening, April 26, 2024, we’ll be gathering with VXV Church at their monthly “family dinner” where our family will be sharing our ministry & celebrating communion. Again, we’d love for you to join us.
On Saturday afternoon, April 27, 2024, we’ll be a part of the First Annual Kalamazoo TRUTH CONFERENCE! From 1-5 PM at a location that will be announced after the first of the year (probably a local hotel meeting room), Justin McCoy, who is a Godly friend & supported missionary with The Navigators in Tennessee, & I will be sharing & training from the Word on topics related to evangelism & discipleship, ending the day with an open mic Q&A panel discussion & fellowship. This is a family-friendly event, of course, & you know what I’m going to write here—we’d love for you to join us for this special time of teaching, fellowship, prayer, & worship! Watch for more details about this in future emails.
On Sunday morning, April 28, 2024, we’ll get to be with VXV Church again & all that I wrote above still applies.
More to come on this time of GOSPEL learning!
GOSPEL work #6
The Gospel is at work in, around, & through the Scotts in New Hampshire, wider New England, & beyond. That’s the goal of any Christ-led family, to deliberately AIM to please God with our thoughts, words, & actions, as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5:9. And God alone provides for what He wants done. In the case of supported missionary families like ours, God provides through those He moves to invest in our work, living for Him.
We are currently at 84% of “fully funded,” which means that we have no reserves, which is actually a wonderful way to live & then arrive in Heaven—with no reserves, no retreats, & no regrets, as one of my favorite missionaries of the past, William Borden, expressed was how he lived & met Jesus face-to-face when his time came.
No reserves for the Scotts means that we plan for such things like the trip & conference I shared above with no means of traveling, let alone the ability to secure any of the other necessary arrangements that need to be made months in advance, which is in the coming days & weeks for an April, 2024 event.
But we obey out of love as Jesus told us to do in John 14:15 & live by faith, just as Paul wrote in Romans 1:17, the verse that led Martin Luther to proclaim the Gospel in a hostile environment 506 years ago in Europe. Paul was a real person attached to real places like Rome 2,000 years ago. Martin Luther was a real person attached to real places like Germany 500 years ago. And we together are Jesus’ Church in our real time & real place committed to living daily & sharing widely the faith in Christ we live by. 1 Corinthians 3 reveals there’s a Day coming where we’ll all know that nothing else matters or will last, but the best time to live that truth is NOW.
So, we KNOW the GOSPEL is living & active in, around, & through our family. If that same GOSPEL is living & active in you, we invite you to walk with us & Jesus toward New Jerusalem, knowing our best days are always ahead, but in the meantime, until that Day, we can work together to plant, water, spread, harvest, & learn the GOSPEL TRUTH more widely & deeply than we did yesterday, by grace through faith.
If the Lord moves you to not give AWAY your money, but give CLOSE to His heart for the GOSPEL, we invite you to share in the work here with us by clicking here to give online.
Last year about this time our family was humbled to express our needs to God & you to provide for expenses related to taxes & health care. He provided 100% of those funds, & more than that, God’s provided for those needs already this year, but we have other GOSPEL needs that aren’t met—YET. We trust He’ll provide in His perfect time & way, just as we trust the Lord will repay those who pray with & root for & give our lives & resources to Him with us—GOSPEL trusting!
We 3 Scotts love you. Jesus loves you MORE!
Living for Him with you,
Pastor Dave for Shannon & John Scott
Colossians 2:5-7
MiddletonGospelChapel.org
ScottFamilyJourney.org
VillageMissions.org
Scott Family Missionary Journey
Phone: 603-473-7042
Email: TeachingSomethingGood@gmail.com